List of Fractured Fairy Tales – A Gathering Books Recommendation

We had a fractured fairy tale theme July and August of this year. I recalled that we had so much fun going over quite a number of postmodern picture books that presented a peculiar twist to beloved narratives. This was one of the reasons why I fell in love with picture books. Prior to this, we also did a lot of book reviews on this theme. I shall include those as well in what I am hoping would be a relatively-definitive list on fractured fairytales.

Of Pigs, Wolves, Hooded Girls, Bears and Beanstalks

Fats and I have done several reviews of fractured versions of the three little pigs. Click on the image below to be taken to our reviews of the books:

You might also want to check out Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith’s The Stinky Cheese Man and other fairly stupid tales as well as their Squids will be squids. David Weisner also has his own version of three little pigs with his award winning The Three Pigs.

The wolves seem to be everywhere in fairy tales. Not only are they chasing pigs, they are also chasing hooded girls (or boys) lost in the forest. In that vein, we have reviewed several versions of the Little Red Riding Hood as could be seen below:

I discovered that this was part of a series that Alma Flor Ada has written. While we were not able to review the two other books, I would encourage you to look for her Dear Peter Rabbit and her With Love, Little Red Hen. All three books in the series were illustrated by Leslie Tryon.

I have also done a few fractured retelling of Goldilocks and the three bears as can be found below – also by Steven Guarnaccia.

I was also glad to have discovered the highly-esteemed British author Frank Muir who has done not just one but three fractured versions of fairy tales as illustrated by Graham Philpot. I have done a 3-in-1 special of his decidedly-quirky versions of these three tales:

We could not possibly do a postmodern retelling of beloved stories without including the award-winning Emily Gravett. I have done a review of four of her books a year ago which I would also like to share with you here:

Click on the image to be taken to my review of these four delectable books.

Cinderella and its Many Many Variations

Apparently there are over a thousand versions of Cinderella – as portrayed in different cultures, settings, historical background, and so forth. As I was surfing the net, I found this extremely helpful website created by Mary Pitner from Thomas School which details how these different versions of Cinderella could be used inside the classroom. We managed to review several for our bimonthly theme as well as during our Chinese New Year special.

More Versions of Princess Tales

As a child I grew up on Princess Tales – both the Brothers Grimm version and the Disney-manufactured ones. Now that I am grown, I am glad to discover these ‘other’ versions of stories involving princesses, dragons, knights, beasts. Here are several that we were able to discover and review:

Here are a few more books that show a different twist to fairy tales – be they a shift in perspective, a behind-the-scenes portrayal (secret lives/little known facts) or fairly-weird fairytales as could be found below:

Lauren Child and her Retellings

Another author that we simply love here in GatheringBooks is Lauren Child. We have reviewed a number of her works that tweaked and twisted fairy stories, such that they are brand new tales altogether. Check out a few of her creation that we have managed to find and review:

Our Academic Nook was also in keeping with our theme. Check out the essay written by Professor Tuting Hernandez entitled “Done Kissing Frogs” and take note of his recommended reads for this theme.

Other Resources

I searched the net for more links to fractured fairy tales – and here are several that I was able to discover: Logan Library has created this comprehensive list of book titles on fractured fairy tales that you might wish to check out. This list on the other hand is created by University of Calgary. Maurice’s Monkeys also prepared a comprehensive post that details various links that you might want to check out in connection with fractured fairy tales – it also includes teacher resources you may wish to explore further.

I am sure that there are a few more that we may not have included in this list. If you have any more recommended titles, we’d be glad to hear them.

Hi, can i ask you something? I’m looking for children books with “scary” animal illustrations like the big bad wolf (or a fox) eating pigs (or seven kids or Red Riding hood or birds in Chicken Little) or being pictured with a fat stomach. Have you seen any book of this sort? Any sort of help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi Nelly, thanks for dropping by. I think that any of the picture books under the theme “of pigs, wolves, hooded girls, bears and beanstalks” above would fit that which you need (e.g. Lon Po Po, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, etc). I hope that helps. :)

Reblogged this on A is for… and commented:
What a great resource for a unit on fractured fairytales. There are multiple versions embedded for viewing and plenty of history and analysis. A good opportunity to flip the classroom…